For Love of Amber Eyes
by DeathAngelChaos
Summary: Sango must defend her love from paternal attack. Decidedly not a one shot. AU-ish obviously.
1. Prologue: Bitter Triumph

**For Love of Amber Eyes**

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or... blah blah blah. You know the drill, people, now suck it up and drive on.

"You have not returned my messages." Her father stated with slight accusation in his voice. "My apologies, father. I was immensely busy." The young woman replied guiltily. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her in the vain hope of calming her nerves. This was a conversation she did not relish having. They stood before the front gates of a large and magnificent castle, the place the young demon slayer woman now called home. "Sango, that is a poor excuse." He replied. In truth, Sango had deliberately avoided returning said messages. The thought of them frightened her as much as they angered her. How could her father write to her to tell her she was now betrothed? Then comes the more interesting question, the one she must answer today: How can she tell him that she was already married? And to a demon, no less. She knew he would hate the very thought. Hell, she knew he would never have even considered it before. Nor had she, to be honest. But now he would have to, just as she had. In fact, her husband was standing placidly a few feet behind her, not that her father or any of his companions knew that. They merely saw a youkai; something to kill if needed. Or, in this particular's case, her pet. Though, as a demon slayer's daughter she would have been profusely warned of the dangers of the humanoid specimens. Thus their confusion as they watched him warily. She knew better than that. "Again, I apologize, father." Sango said meekly.

For his part, Sesshomaru was very agitated; though it didn't show on his person. He knew exactly what the contents of those messages were, having read them himself, and was very much aware of what the substance of this visit would consist of. Needless to say he was NOT happy. She was his. _His_! And Hell would begin hosting charity barbeques before he let anyone take her from him. 'The presumption of this mortal to think he can take my mate from me and hand her to some inferior human male. This Sesshomaru will not have it.' He thought bitterly.

"Sango, you know why we are here. You must return home with us and marry Tomi." He stated. Sango flinched, she knew the man her father had promised her to. He was a boy from her village that she grew up with. He was a bully then and he is a bully now. Sesshomaru or no, Tomi was not a pleasant idea for a husband. Sesshomaru shifted his stance slightly. He didn't know this Tomi, and quite frankly he didn't care. The human was irrelevant in the demon lord's eyes. His Sango was not marrying him, end of story.

"Father, I can't marry Tomi. And I can't come back with you." Sango quietly stated. "Why?" Her father immediately wanted to know. He was becoming suspicious. He knew she would not like the idea of marrying this particular man but he didn't think that she would be so opposed that she would be borderline cold to him, her beloved father. For that was exactly how she was behaving since he arrived: detached and less than enthused to see him. Not at all like his usually sweet and gentle daughter. Something is amiss…

Sesshomaru looked on with increased attention. This was the moment he had been waiting for since the humans arrived at his gate almost an hour ago. The moment in which she confessed her attachment to him and sent them away empty handed. He knew why she had been stalling, given her family's profession, but he was busy and needed to get back to his paperwork. Paperwork, not his favorite part of being lord of the Western Lands but it needed to be done. He was only down here now to provide emotional support to the woman he loved. And oh, how he loves her. Yes, the fact surprised him as well. He gazed on expectantly as she turned her head to glance back at him. He nodded his encouragement and waited.

She turned back to face her father once more and took a calming breath. It did little for her. "Father, I can't go back with you because this is my home now." Not exactly what he expected her to say, but Sesshomaru waited patiently deciding she couldn't possibly be finished yet. As for her father, he merely arched a brow at the ridiculousness of his daughter living among demons and calling the place home. He scanned her again, once more taking in the beautiful and elaborate kimono she wore. His suspicions grew. "Nonsense, your home is in the demon slayer's village with us. With _humans_." He told her matter-of-factly. Sesshomaru growled slightly at this and scowled. Her home was with her husband, with him. The humans shifted into defensive stances at the noise coming fro within the youkai's chest. Though when he made no move to attack they relaxed somewhat. He gave them a chilling glare of reproach before shifting his attention back to his mate. She was stiff from the anxiety of what she must say next. "No, father, it isn't." She replied. "It's here with Sesshomaru." Her father stared incredulously when his daughter called the beast by name. And the way she said it! With affection dripping from every syllable. It was much more loving than one would give a simple pet. It was almost as if… No, he wouldn't entertain the thought for even a moment. There was no way _his_ daughter could… "How could your home be here with that _thing_ instead of with your own kind?" he asked, disbelief in his voice. Sesshomaru growled quite menacingly at being referred to as such. He would have attacked for the human's impudence had Sango not turned and shook her head before returning her attention to the man in front of her. For her sake he stayed his hand which was itching to wrap around the foolish human's throat. "Don't call him that, father." She demanded urgently. Sesshomaru could only be pushed and restrained so far. As it was, she herself was quite irritated with her father's disrespect to her love. It emboldened her. "I can call this place home. I can't return with you or marry Tomi because…" here she paused, took a deep breath and plunged ahead "I love him!" She exclaimed. Absolute silence. Not even the birds from the surrounding forest uttered a peep in anticipation of the harsh reaction that would surely follow such a declaration. Her father had paled considerably under his tan at her words. 'No,' he thought 'no way in all bloody Hell would my child give her heart to a demon!' He refused to believe it. "Sango, stop this foolishness this instant." He commanded. "There is more, father." She whispered in fear of his reaction "I can't marry Tomi because I've already married Sesshomaru." She glanced up into her father's face from where she had been staring at the ground before turning her eyes back to his feet. His reaction was instant and negative. With a hard slap to the face Sango found herself throwing her arms out to catch herself with her hands before she fell face first into the dirt.

Sesshomaru had seen it coming, the second the words left her lips he had seen her father's arm come up and instantly knew his intent. He almost moved, despite his promise, to protect her from the offending limb but he stopped himself after only one step. He couldn't interfere. She had made him promise. And he would _never_ break a promise to her, even in spite of his better judgment… Unless doing so would cause her _real_ bodily harm. As it was, it took all of his considerable will power not to move and even then he nearly failed.

Sango hesitantly picked herself up again. Frankly she was stunned. Her father had never struck her outside of training before. She slowly raised her stinging face to look into the eyes of her glowering father. "How could you?" he demanded "How could you shame your clan, your honor, you very humanity and give yourself to some demon with piss-colored eyes?!" She audibly gasped at this. "They are not piss-colored." She said with tears in her eyes. "They are golden, like the sun." Her defense of the creature only seemed to anger him more. He raised his arm again and she did nothing to stop him. This time she stayed down. "No daughter of mine will give herself to a demon. No daughter of mine will shame me and herself to such an extent as this." He hissed through clenched teeth. "As far as anyone is concerned, _I have no daughter_!" And with that he snatched the taijiya mask she wore on her obi threw it into the forest and gave the woman a sound kick before turning to leave. Her soft voice stopped him mid-stride just as he was about to disappear into the trees. "You can take away my inheritance. You can take away my ability to come home. But I'm still your daughter. No one can take that from me, not even you." She said softly as tears began cascading down her face. Her father, the man who raised her, the man who trained her, responded with nothing more than a snort of contempt before striding angrily into the forest without a backward glance.

It was coming, he could sense it. "Sango." He gently called to her. She lifted her shamed face to look at him, got to her feet and took the outstretched hand he offered her. He pulled her to him with an audible smack. With that he lifted her up into his arms and carried her as quickly as he could away from the site of her heartbreak. Others had begun to gather during the exchange between the humans and he would not allow his wife to be humiliated further. He would take her away to cry in privacy. In a matter of moments he had taken them to their sleeping chamber and sat them gently on their futon. He wrapped his arms and legs around her huddled form shielding her from view of the rest of the world. It could almost feel it breaking, the dam holding back her sorrow. And when it finally gave he allowed her to sob into his chest.

He remembered a time quite a while ago, when he was only beginning to feel his affections for her, when he had been placed in a similar situation. The difference had been the fact that the sobbing girl in his arms that time had been Rin and she had been crying because some children had been taunting her about her humanity. He remembered looking to the demon slayer for assistance as he didn't know how to go about comforting the distraught little girl. Sango had simply smiled and said 'Sometimes the best thing you can do is simply hold someone and listen.' He had done just that, and though he couldn't understand a damn word the child had been sobbing, it did seem to help considerably. So, looking down at the woman he chose to give his heart to, he pulled her to him tighter and ran a hand gently through her hair as she shook and sobbed. She had defended him to the bitter end and he couldn't help but feel a terrible anger for the pathetic human who'd _dare_ reject his mate and love. 'Filthy human, as if he could possibly comprehend her utter superiority." He thought.

Soon enough, her sobs turned into whimpers, her whimpers into sniffles and her sniffles into silence. Her breathing had become shallow and even. Looking down, Sesshomaru found that she had cried herself to sleep. Quietly and as tenderly as he could, he laid them both down and continued to hold her to him. He would never abandon her to her loneliness. He vowed never to make her regret her decision to stay with him, regret her 'betrayal' of the ones she had called family. She had defended him 'til the bitter end. And all for love of his amber eyes.

A/N: HOLY CRAP!! I finally have a fic of my own. This was inspired during one of my evening walks. I think I was listening to 'Sleepwalker' by Nightwish at the time. This whole thing actually developed around the barb about Sesshomaru's eyes and Sango's response to it. I thought the line to be incredibly important in case I wanted to expand on this. And the concept of expansion is very much up for discussion. Please review. And don't be afraid to really let me have it. Some of you are very aware that I don't hold back when reviewing, and one shouldn't give what they can't take themselves, right? So go ahead, give it to me. I'd love to hear opinions.

Forever your inevitable destruction,

DAC


	2. Ch 1: The Beginning

**The Beginning**

Chores. That seemed to be all her story would ever be: an endless stream of chores… And training, but she wasn't doing that right now so all she had to focus on were her chores. And, in true teenage fashion, she had to blow the whole situation way out of proportion; like some horribly tragic drama in which she must accept this as her fate until death. In truth, this was the last chore she had to do before she could enjoy the quiet warmth of the evening: dishes. Sango wasn't going to dwell too much longer on this, though. Her brother would get it tomorrow and it would be _her _turn to relax and laze about with the rest of her family and neighbors.

Sango knelt down by the stream that ran through the forest just outside the palisade of her village. Always aware that youkai could always be lurking in any shadow Sango touched the blade hidden in her soft pink yukata, making sure of its location should she have need of it. Reaching into the wooden bucket she had placed beside her, she pulled out the first of the soiled dishes and dunked it in the water. Humming softly to herself, she scrubbed it clean and reached for the next one. It went on like this for a while. So preoccupied in her task was she that she didn't sense the presence looming behind her at all. She didn't hear the approach or nor did she see any shadows moving in the dying sunlight. Not until it was too late. Deadly hands went plunging toward her back…

"Gotcha!" the boy shouted as he tapped his sister's shoulder blades in the annoying fashion people do when they think they're being sneaky. "Aaaaiii!!" the girl screeched, startled. Unsheathing the blade she had hidden leapt around in her crouching position and brought it up to her attacker's face. Upon turning, she realized just who her assailant was. "Oh, Kohaku, you frightened me." She said with a sigh of relief. Remembering the blade she held mere centimeters from the young boy's face, she retracted her arm and re-sheathed her dagger. "I almost skewered you." She said. "Oh, I knew you wouldn't" he replied innocently. Kohaku had no doubt whatsoever about his sister's abilities. Despite her femininity, she was quite the prodigy. Father said so himself.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Sango asked gently. Her little brother shouldn't be outside the palisade alone this late in the evening. This was the time the most evil demons came out to feed. Sango didn't doubt Kohaku's ability as a competent demon-slayer. Quite the contrary. It's just that he's her little brother. She always worried about his safety. It's the natural order of things. The sun rises in the East, the birds fly in the air, and big sisters worry for their little brothers. That's how it's always been and that's how it'll always be.

"Checking on you." Kohaku stated. "Father sent me. He says you're taking to long. I think he was starting to get worried." Sango sighed. "I'm finished anyway. Let's go back." She said.

The walk back was quiet, uneventful. It was a cool and lovely summer evening. The kind you wish would last forever. As the siblings walked through the giant gate of the palisade, shouts from above caught their attention. It was the guards on gate duty wishing them a good night as they continued on towards home. In fact all around them villagers were heading to their houses after spending the evening with family and neighbors to prepare for bed. "Good night, Sango!" a voice shouted to their left. "See you tomorrow, Kohaku!" another voice called from behind. And it continued on until they reached their home.

Yes, it had been a beautiful evening after a beautiful day. Nothing could take away the feeling of contentment that settled around the village. Or so it seemed to Sango as she and her brother prepared for bed. Everything was just perfect…

A/N: I'm going to go ahead and leave it at that because, despite the fact that I seemed to have left off with an idea in mind for next chapter, I really have no clue what I'm going to do next. ^.^ So until another idea pops into my head: later.

Forever your inevitable destruction,

DAC


	3. Ch 2: A Stroll Through the Forest

A/N: I know it's short, but work with me here. I thought any more would be overkill for this part. This is a scene between the scenes. If you are familiar with episode 05 "Aristocratic Assassin Sesshomaru" then you should be able to follow this with ease. If you need to refresh your memory on that episode, please do; or you will be completely lost. I know for a fact that this is cannon to the story as I had watched that episode in preparation to writing this. So you should at least watch up until Inu Yasha gets dragged off to the river of death.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha. If I did, there would be changes, and plenty of them.

"Oooh, wait for me, Lord Sesshomaru!" came a high-pitched, whiney voice from behind. Sesshomaru snorted (if he actually did such undignified things) in exasperation. Of course he continued on. It was beneath a lord to wait for a servant, it should always be the other way around. "Lord Sesshomaru!" And now he picks up his pace. Honestly, Jaken should know better by now. If you are going to whine, you will be left behind. Plus, such antics always entertained Sesshomaru… even if showing it would be beneath him. In fact, despite his stony disposition, Sesshomaru was actually in a very good mood. He was close. "My lord! The staff… it moves!" came the obnoxious voice from several yards away. Oh yes, very close indeed. The Staff of Two Heads ripped itself from Jaken's scrawny hands and levitated over the path they were following to stop several paces away from where Sesshomaru had ceased walking. It had stopped just before a decline in the path over-looking a quiet village. Sesshomaru smiled, he finally understands. Inu Yasha.

It had been… upsetting to travel all the way to his father's tomb only to find it empty, at least of anything of use. There had been that pack of mangy mongrels, but other than that: disappointment. Then there was those foolish mortal samarai. All that was required of them was to acquiesce to his simple command for a boat. Those _humans_ couldn't even manage that. And on top of all of that, he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out that damn riddle: Seen, but never seen. Protected, but never known by its protector… What the hell does that mean? How is it that someone with as incredible a mind as his couldn't unravel a silly riddle? All in all, it had been a horrible trip thus far. And then things turned around, and because of Jaken, no less. That sycophantic fool has actually made himself of use. While he despised his half-breed brother, Inu Yasha, the fact that he was now free of the priestess' curse may benefit him in finishing his quest. The Staff seems to be leading them to that vermin, anyway. But how to proceed? One can't expect that stubborn idiot to simply hand over the information he seeks. This Sesshomaru must trick it out of him. Unfortunately, schemes are beneath him.

"Mi'lord?" That wretched voice again, "How do you plan to take the information we require from Inu Yasha, mi'lord?" The question was met with silence. With a sigh, Jaken looked out into the forest around them as he trailed after his master. A shadow caught his eye. Did it just move? The shadow moved again. It did! Jaken stopped to examine it further. It seemed to be in the shape of a woman. She turned toward him. She has no _face_!! It's an unmother. A plan began forming in Jaken's mind. Lord Sesshomaru could use her. "Mi'lord? Might I make a suggestion about this dilemma?" he inquired. Sesshomaru stopped walking and turned to his loyal vassal. "You have a plan, Jaken?" Jaken nodded vigorously at Sesshomaru's question, proud that he had piqued his master's interest. "Should it fail, you shall die." The happy smile slid right off of Jaken's face.

A/N: This was fun. I absolutely love writing Sesshomaru. He always did make me laugh. Tell me if I managed to keep him in character. It was fun, but challenging. As always, reviews are most appreciated. So let me have it. Also, once again, the first chapter is actually a prologue. It even has the audacity to be titled "Prologue" in the chapter selection. For those of you who paid attention and have NOT pestered me with the fact that the first "chapter" seemingly has nothing to do with the "second", you have my kudos and should proceed to give yourself a cookie. For those of you who have not (which will probably be those who do not bother reading the A/N or even the chapter selection) all I can say is your skills of observation are UNSATISFACTORY. You know who you are. And would ask that if you are going to flame me then, please, actually put some credibility into it. And yes, I do enjoy mocking you.

Forever your inevitable destruction,

DAC


End file.
